Aeroplane-gun.



o. DAVIS. AEROPLANE GUN. APPLICATION FILED 11119.22, '1911.

1,108,714. Patented Aug.25,19.14..

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CLELANID DAVIS, or THE UNITED srarns navy, assrenon r0 oanunncn nsvnnor-MEN'J. COMPANY, A CORPORATION OFDELAWARE.

AEROPLANE-GUN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 22,1911. Serial No. 645,365.

- Patented Aug. 25, 1914.

new and useful Improvements in Aeroplane- Guns; and Ido hereby declarethe follow ing to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same.

It having been demonstratedthat it is practicable to navigate the airunder normal atmospheric conditions, and while as yet the practice istoo hazardous for ordinary comand military purposes.

mercial purposes, still air craft have already become a part of themilitary equipment of most of the civilized nations, and those of theheavier than air type have been found to be specially useful for bothnaval They have, however, so far developed little, if any, ofiensivevalue, it being obviously impossible to strike a comparatively smalltarget, such as the hull of a battleship, the vulnerable point of afort, or even a large building, by merely dropping explosive from a highaltitude. This might be possible if the air craft was close the thetarget, but such proximity would result in the almost certain shootingof the aviator, while objects dropped from a great height would partakeof the motion of air craft, and it would be very difficult to land themwith any degree of accuracy. Furthermore, the mere dropping of a highexplosive on the deck of a ship, or a fort, would occasion very smalldamage, for the force of the explosive would ordinarily,

aboard ship, be confined to the region above the protective deck, andlittle damage would be done from such explosion.

In order to secure the desired velocity to penetrate even thin armor, ora protected position anywhere, the explosive would have to be containedin a, projectile, and this projectile would haveto be propelled withsuiiicient velocity to penetrate said armor. It would be impracticableto drop an explosive from such a great height as would cause it, underthe influence ot gravity alone, to obtain said velocity; and moreover,it would: be impracticable to aim a projectile dropped from such aheightwith any reasonable degree of accuracy. For

these reasons, therefore, in order to sue-' cessfully attack a shipwith'explosive froman air craft, it is necessary that the explosiveshall be contained in a projectile with walls thick enough to penetratethe protective deck without breaking up, and that the pro ect le shallhave sufficient velocity to enable tto be directed with accuracy, and toenable it to penetrate when striking. TlllS can only be accomplished bydischarging the projectile from-a gun. In order for a'gun to beeffective for such purposes, it

must comply with the following condi tions:-(l) It should be of. calibersufficiently large to discharge a projectile carrymg a considerablequantity of explosive. (2) It should be capable of giving a muzzlevjllocity to the projectile would enable aimed shots to be fired atdistances of2,000 yards, or more. (3) It should be so'designed that theshock of recoil will bring little, or no strain upon the structure ofthe aeroplane. Inorder to meet the above conditions, I

have devised the apparatus disclosed in theaccompanying drawings, towhich reference W111 now be had.

Figure l is a side elevation, showing the biplane and its partsdiagrammatically. Fig. 2 shows a central axial section through thesleeve and gun. Fig. 3 shows a section along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, andlooking in the direction of the arrows, and Fig. 1 shows the apparatusapplied to a monoplane. g

A represents a biplane, having the usual so-called planes B, and theusual framework with elevating rudder a, and also the steering ruddersand propeller (not shown) I do not make an claim to the specialconstruction of the ying machine proper, as this is not partof mypresent invention,

and this construction is well known in the art.

0 represents the platform of the biplane, on which are erectedstanchions D, into which the trunnions g of the tube G are journaled,This tube is elevated and depressed through a small angle by means ofsuitable elevating gear, such as the curved rack 6', attached to thesleeve G, the pinion e meshing .in said rack and the hand wheel e p Frepresents the sight, which is attached to the side of the sleeve in anyconvenient way. Any suitablesight may be provided for this purpose,preferably the well known telescope sight, with cross hairs mounted inthe side of thesleeve.

The sleeve G'is normally tilted at a considerable angle, since the gunplatform would be always at an elevation, and generally at aconsiderable distance above the target.

In order to protect the aeroplane from injury from the blast of the gun,the lower end of the sleeve is made to project below the framework ofthe aeroplane, and also above said framework. 'In a biplane, the upperplane would be-slotted fore and aft to permit the passage therethroughjust strong enough to serve as a launching -tion, such as the set screw9.

tube for the gun, and to protect the oc-- cupants of the aeroplane frominjury by the lateral spread of the explosive gases, and also to preventthe aeroplane from being set on; fire incident to the firing of the.gun. Co'ntained in this sleeve is a gun H, which is attached to thesleeve by a friable connec- This gun is made as light as practicable,preferably of some very tough and strong metal, such as vanadiumsteel,,and'it is not necessary that the gun shall weigh much, if any,more than the projectile with its explosive charge. This gun isprovided-with a primer I, preferably an electric primer operated by asuitable source of electricity P, such as a dry cell, the connectionsbeing completed by any suitable conductors p and p, and the circuit maybe closed by any suitable switch Q. The powder in the gun K propels theprojectile M, which has its chamber filled with high explosive N, andany suitable kind of percussion fuse I may be used.

The shell should be held in the gun by some friable connection, such asm, and the resistance of shearing of the set screw 9 should be slightlyin excess of the resistance required to start the shell in the bore, sothat theishell begins to move forward before the gun starts to the rear;the idea being that the shell proceeds in the direction of the target,and the powder gases in the gun will blow the barrel of the gun upthrough the top of the sleeve and in rear of the aeroplane, the gunbeing expended along with the projectile at eachshot. By thisarrangement of having the gun and the projectile fiy in oppositedirections, comparatively small shock will be thrown on the framework ofthe aeroplane, and the sleeve may be used for several shots.

It will be' obvious that the apparatus should be so arranged that theresistance to I j the rearward travel of the gun in its sleeve should beapproximately equal to the resistance of the projectile in itspassagethrough 1 the bore of the gun. Thus these two forces would approximatelyneutralize each other,

relieving the gun support of any heavy strain.

The sleeve is pointed downward and for-' ward, which gives the advantagenot only of being ready to fire when first approaching the target, andbefore those on the target have much chance of observing, much lessinjuring, the aviator; but an additional advantage is secured in thatthe velocity of the aeroplane is added to the velocity given to theprojectile by the powder charge in the tions might be made in the hereindescribed apparatus, which could be used without departing from thespirit of my invention. I Having thus described my invention, what entof the United States is 1.'Ina flying machine, the combination with agun sleeve of a gun shdably mounted therein and adapted to passrearwardly through and entirely. clear of said sleeve, and a projectileadapted to move forward as the gun moves backward with approximatelyequal force whereby the strain on the gun support is reduced to aminimum, substantially as described.

2. In a flying machine, the combination with a gun platform of asleeve'trunnioned' thereon, a gun connected to said sleeve by a friableconnection, and a projectile containing a high explosive mounted in saidgun,

with means for firing said gun, substantially as described.

3. In a. flying machine, the combination with a gun platform of a sleevetrunnioned thereon, an elevatin gear for turning said sleeve through alimited angle in depression, a gun connected to said sleeve by a friableconnection, and a projectile containing a high explosive mounted in saidgun, with means for firing said gun, substantially-as described. V I

4. An apparatus adapted for firing projectiles from flying machines,comprising a tube open at both ends, agun mounted in 100 I claim anddesire to secure by Letters Patsaid tube and adapted to contain aprojectile and a propelling charge, a severable connec-' tion betweensaid gun and said tube, and means for firin said propelling chargewhereby said pro1ectile is discharged in one direction out of said tube,and said gun is expelled inthe oppositedirection entirely clear of saidtube, substantially as described.

5. An apparatus adapted for firing projectiles from flying machines,comprising a tube open at both ends, a gun mounted in said tube andadapted to contain a projectile and a propelling charge, a severableconnection between said gun and said tube, and means for firing saidpropelling charge whereby said projectile is discharged in one directionout of said tube, and said gun is expelled in the opposite directionentirely clear of said tube, with means for elevating and depressmg saidtube, substantially as described.

6. In a flying machine, the combination with a gun platform of a sleevetrunnionod thereon, a gun connected to said sleeve by a friableconnectiomand a projectile mounted in' said nn, with means for firingsaid gun,

substantially as described. o

7. In a flying machine, the combination with a gun platform of a sleevetrunmoned thereon, an elevating gear for turning said 'sleeve throu h alimited angle in depression,

a gun connected to said sleeve by a friable connection, and a projectilemounted in said gun, with means for firing said gun, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

7 CLELAND DAVIS;

l Vitnesses: I

W. G. LANGDON, J. L. WHITE.

